Rightfully, beautiful women resent being judged on their looks alone. The Shanling T-100 has suffered similar disrespect. In certain Internet cases, this has even prompted the equivalent of tasteless and adolescent dumb blonde jokes. Being Chinese has only compounded this further - as though world-class industrial design, Far-Eastern origins and reference caliber performance couldn't possible coexist. Racism. Audio misogyny. Harsh preconceptions. Not exactly reactions that inspire audiophile brotherhood, curiosity or open-mindedness.

Thankfully all it takes is listening; not to preconceptions and uneducated judgments but the real thing - the actual player. Even in the presence of acknowledged bleeding-edge greatness, this Shanling doesn't wither. The Zanden Model 5000 MKII DAC -- whose owners on record mention it in the same breath as the Lindemann SACD player and dCS gear -- is one bona fide yard stick for true state-of-the-art RedBook playback. Its designer Kazutoshi Yamada and international sales manager Hideo Kitazawa showed this working-class writer unbelievable kindness when informed that, in the wake of its recent review, their vaunted valved DAC was ready to return to Osaka-City/Japan. "You clearly love music. We want you to keep it as your reviewer's reference."

How to respond safe to feel unreasonably blessed? I'm now in cherished possession of a true statement digital front-end. Needless to say, today's review subject would find itself compared. How much remained possible beyond its performance? How close would it come for 1/4th the price? But first, the prosecution's case evidence. Is the Shanling's raw sex appeal safe for audiophile consumption? Should domestic manufacturers lobby for a trade embargo to protect their home turf? You be the judge:

Three blue diodes embedded in the hinge of the acrylic cover, especially at night, make for a very tasty light show. Orange tube glow reflects off the stainless steel cover to mingle with the dark blue rays spilling from the central orb, itself set off against the cyan display. The gold accents on the integral pillars, the tube rails' and lid hinge's champagne trim add more visual charm. The nomenclature's engraved rather than silkscreened to spell design detail in yet bigger letters.

This theme of obsessive industrial design execution continues on the unit's right side. It houses a frontal headphone socket and rear power switch to keep the fascia free of clutter. You know how much gear places its power switch (or even the headphone socket) on the rear panel where you can't conveniently get to either?

The back accommodates the IEC power inlet and five deluxe CMC US-made RCA sockets that look for all the world like top-line WBTs - transistor and tube analog outputs, one coaxial digital output at either 16/44 or 24/96 depending on whether upsampling is engaged or not. The two blue LEDs to the right of the display indicate 24/96 or HDCD detection respectively, the duos of push buttons flanking the self-clamping lid control play/pause and stop to the left, previous and next track to the right. The tube covers don't dismount though the top ring can be unscrewed. Rather, you wiggle the valves out from in-between the thin steel rings.

The transport lid is manual and outfitted with a self-centering puck. The moment the cover is closed, the laser automatically reads the TOC. That's a 4-second process. To cue up track 8 on a 17-track CD took 8 seconds. Depending on the flatness of a CD loaded, the initial mild whirring noise either abated entirely for inaudible spinning or continued to be audible up to 3 feet away. If upsampling is defeated, the HDCD indicator lights up during the initial TOC scan but then extinguishes unless the CD is HDCD encoded.

At 27 lbs and 17,5" W x 11.5" D x 4.5" H, the T-100 requires 9 inches of total clearance for the lid to fully open and stay open by itself.

This mod takes 7 hours to perform and upholds the 12-month factory warranty.

As with the already reviewed Jolida JD-100 and Music Hall CD-25, this modified Shanling T-100 is a special Graham Company exclusive with the Parts ConneXion. Atlanta-based, it sells completely modified, brand-new units for $2,690 plus shipping. Or, it arranges for retroactively installed mods at $1,200. Since the stock T-100 retails for $1,995 through Music Hall, acquiring an already-modded player through the Graham Company equals a $500 savings over contacting Graham's Walter Liederman for this particular upgrade at a later time.

Some easily seen modification changes are the big yellow Auricap bypass caps in the upper central sector; the resistor upgrades around the four upright silver-bottom storage caps in the middle right; the four OPA627 adaptor pcbs around the six yellow lateral caps in the lower right-hand corner; the six OPA 2134 chips divided by heat sinks in the lower left-hand corner; the output hookup wire in the upper right-hand corner.

But enough window shopping already. How well does this machine carve the digital tracks?